Social Issues Dominate Talks At Twain And Stowe Centers

David Shankbone

On Wednesday, Nov. 19, at 7:30 p.m., Katha Pollitt, a longtime columnist for The Nation magazine, will give a free Nook Farm Author Talk based on her latest book, "Pro: Reclaiming Abortion Rights," at the Twain House.

On Wednesday, Nov. 19, at 7:30 p.m., Katha Pollitt, a longtime columnist for The Nation magazine, will give a free Nook Farm Author Talk based on her latest book, "Pro: Reclaiming Abortion Rights," at the Twain House. (David Shankbone)

CAROLE GOLDBERGSpecial To The Courant

Katha Pollitt, author of 'Reclaiming Abortion Rights,' will speak at Twain House

The Mark Twain House & Museum and Harriet Beecher Stowe Center will present two talks on social issues at the Twain House Museum Center, 351 Farmington Ave., Hartford.

Pollitt contends that although abortion has been legal for more than 40 years and it is estimated that one in three American women will choose to terminate a pregnancy, it remains controversial, and even some pro-choice Americans describe it as a wrenching decision, a stance that aids those working to end the practice. Pollitt believes abortion should be seen as a morally right option for women to control their reproductive life.

WNPR News Director John Dankosky will moderate the discussion of Bernstein's book, "Burning Down The House: The End of Juvenile Prison" (New Press, $26.95). The book says one in three American school-age children will be arrested before reaching age 23 and be incarcerated in badly run and dangerous detention centers that do not rehabilitate them.

Other sponsors of Bernstein's talk are Community Partners in Action and Connecticut Juvenile Justice Alliance.

On Tuesday, Nov. 18, from 7 to 8 p.m., Charter Oak Cultural Center, 21 Charter Oak Ave., Hartford, will offer a free Read It and Sleep program as part of the center's ongoing 10th annual Celebration of Jewish Arts and Culture.

WNPR reporter and former Courant reporter Jeff Cohen, whose book, "Eva and Sadie and the Worst Haircut EVER!" (HarperCollins, $17.99), is based on his interview with his two young daughters that became an Internet sensation, will speak.

Children can bring their parents and snacks will be served. Each family will be given a copy of Cohen's book.

Hartford Public Library will host Central Connecticut State University history professor and author Matthew Warshauer on Wednesday, Nov. 19, at 6 p.m., at its Hartford History Center, 500 Main St., Hartford.

Warshauer, whose expertise includes American political and constitutional history and the Civil War, coordinates the Connecticut Commemorates the Civil War project. He will give a free talk on "Soldier's Heart: The Civil War and Treatment of Post-Combat Stress." Civil War veterans were treated for post-war psychological trauma at Middletown's Connecticut Valley Hospital (then the Connecticut Hospital for the Insane). Soldier's heart was the term used to describe what is now called Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Garth Stein, author of the bestselling novel, "The Art of Racing in the Rain," will speak about his latest book on Sunday, Nov. 16, at 1:30 p.m. at Madison Senior Center, 29 Bradley Road, Madison. His new novel is "A Sudden Light" (Simon & Schuster, $26.95). In it, a teenage boy hoping to save his parents' marriage uncovers troubling family secrets in a mansion on Seattle's Puget Sound.

On Monday, Nov 17, at 7 p.m., Richard Flanagan, the prize-winning Tasmanian author of "The Narrow Road to the Deep North" (Knopf,$26.95), will give a free talk. His novel is set in 1943 in a Japanese POW camp on the Thai-Burma Death Railway, where an Australian surgeon receives a life-changing letter.

On Tuesday, Nov. 18, at 7 p.m. WFBS TV news anchor Kara Sundlun will talk about her memoir, "Finding Dad: From 'Love Child' To Daughter" (Behler Publications, $15.95. It is the true story of how she forged a bond with her father, Rhode Island Gov. Bruce Sundlun, after launching a paternity suit against the man she knew about but had never met.

On Wednesday, Nov. 19, at 7 p.m., food and travel writers Ann Mah will discuss her book, "Mastering the Art of French Eating: From Paris Bistros to Farmhouse Kitchens, Lessons in Food and Love" (Penguin Books, $16).The book explores the histories of such French classics as boeuf bourguignon includes recipes from French chefs, farmers and restaurateurs.

On Thursday, Nov. 20, at 7 p.m., former Courant reporter and editor Anne Farrow, will discuss her nonfiction book on the connection between a famous Connecticut family and the slave trade, "The Logbooks: Connecticut's Slave Ships and Human Memory" (Wesleyan, $27.95). The book traces the life of the logbooks' author, Dudley Saltonstall, a controversial figure in Connecticut history who was the brother-in-law of Wethersfield's Silas Deane, and also explores how history and memory are connected, insights Farrow acquired through the experience of coping with her mother's Alzheimer's disease.

Wintonbury Poetry Series

Poets Jane D'Arista and Charles Douthat will give a free reading on Thursday, Nov. 20, at 7 p.m., for the Wintonbury Library Poetry Series at Wintonbury Library, 1015 Blue Hills Ave., Bloomfield. An open mike will follow.

D'Arista's new book is "The Overgrown Copse" (Antrim House, $17). Douthat's "Blue for Oceans" (New Haven Review Books, $15), won the L.L. Winship/Pen New England Award.

R.D. Rosen, author of "Such Good Girls: The Journey of the Holocaust's Hidden Child Survivors" (Harper, $25.99), will speak at the re-opening of the Beth El Temple Library, 2626 Albany Ave., West Hartford, on Sunday, Nov. 16, at 9:15 a.m. The book traces the lives of three children who survived the Holocaust by being hidden and went on to lead meaningful lives.

From 2 to 4 p.m. at Hartford Public Library, 500 Main St., Hartford, former State Poet Laureate Marilyn Nelson will present a reading and workshop called "Lyric Histories."

From 5 to 9 p.m., at City Steam Brewery Cafe, 942 Main St., Hartford, "The Last Hurrah" will offer a reading by poet Michael Czarnecki and an open mike session.

Admission is free, but donations are welcome and non-expired, non-perishable food also will be accepted for the AHCC Crisis Food Support Program. Information: riverwoodpoetry.org.

Spoken Word & Music

The Mishi-maya-gat Spoken Word & Music Series continues Thursday, Nov. 20, at 6:30 p.m., at Manchester Community College's MCC on Main, 903 Main St., Manchester.

At 6:30 p.m., pianist Francesco Blackmore, director of Music at Christ Episcopal Church, Waterbury, and vice-president of the MCC Music Club, will play.

At 7:30 p.m., Mary Ann Caws, a scholar and translator of French poetry and professor of English, French, and Comparative Literature at the Graduate Center of CUNY, will speak. Caws will read French surrealist and Dada poetry that she has translated for Black Widow Press in Boston.

Connecticut historian Glenn Alan Cheney, who has published more than 20 books, will give a free talk on the Pilgrims' first year in America on Monday, Nov. 17, at 6:30 p.m., at Essex Library, 33 West Ave., Essex. Cheney's book, "Thanksgiving: The Pilgrims' First Year in America" (New London Librarium, $16.95), is about the lives of the people who sailed from England to American aboard the Mayflower. Information: 860-767-1560.

Crocodile Mothers

A former federal attorney and foster parent will celebrate the publishing of his novel, "Crocodile Mothers Eat Their Young: A Child's Story of Abuse and Survival" (All Things That Matter Press, $15) on Thursday, Nov. 19, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Jim's Family Restaurant, 124 Poquonock Ave., Windsor.

Alan Cohen, who writes using the pen name Avi Morris, is a Hartford native and graduate of Weaver High School, UConn and UConn Law School. A former South Windsor resident, he now lives in Hamden.

Karen Guzman, a former Courant reporter, has published her debut novel, "Homing Instincts" (Fiction Attic Press, $17.99. It is a story set in Connecticut about a UConn graduate and wildlife biologist devastated by the loss of his girlfriend and the death of his father.

She will give a talk Saturday, Nov. 22, at 1 p.m. at Bank Square Books, 53 W. Main St., Mystic.

Friends of The Wethersfield Library will present a free program on Sunday, Nov. 16, from 2 to 4 p.m. at the library, 515 Silas Deane Hwy, Wethersfield, featuring members of the Writers' Circle, which formed more than six years ago. They will talk about the group and sign copies of recently published books: the anthology "Spilled Ink" (CreateSpace, $9.95), a joint project of the group; "The Dark and the Light Side of the Moon" (CreateSpace, $9.99) by Gloria Avak Pitchell; and "Lies and Country" (CreateSpace, $9.99) by Sara Strecker. Other group members are Bobbie Coughlin, Sandra Diamond, Trevann Rogers, Liz Kirkpatrick, Diane Shovak and Martha Mayer. Proceeds from book sales will benefit Friends of the Library.

Information: 860-529-2665 or 860-563-3533.

"The Curse"

Former U.S. Rep. Robert Steele will give a talk about his novel, "The Curse: Big-Time Gambling's Seduction of a Small New England Town" (Levellers Press, $15.95), on Thursday, Nov. 20, from noon to 12:45 p.m., at the Connecticut State Library, 231 Capitol Ave., Hartford. The book is set during the 1990s' casino gambling expansion in southeastern Connecticut and shows how it changed life in the state and beyond. His talk is part of the State Library and Museum of Connecticut History's free Third Thursday Brownbag Lunchtime speaker series. Attendees may bring their lunch.